Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy A lush seductive novel of the legendary beauty whose face launched a thousand shipsDaughter of a god wife of a king prize of antiquity s bloodiest war Helen of Troy has inspired artists for millen

Title: Helen of Troy

Author: Margaret George

ISBN: 9780670037780

Page: 166

Format: Hardcover

A lush, seductive novel of the legendary beauty whose face launched a thousand shipsDaughter of a god, wife of a king, prize of antiquity s bloodiest war, Helen of Troy has inspired artists for millennia Now, Margaret George, the highly acclaimed bestselling historical novelist, has turned her intelligent, perceptive eye to the myth that is Helen of Troy.Margaret George bA lush, seductive novel of the legendary beauty whose face launched a thousand shipsDaughter of a god, wife of a king, prize of antiquity s bloodiest war, Helen of Troy has inspired artists for millennia Now, Margaret George, the highly acclaimed bestselling historical novelist, has turned her intelligent, perceptive eye to the myth that is Helen of Troy.Margaret George breathes new life into the great Homeric tale by having Helen narrate her own story Through her eyes and in her voice, we experience the young Helen s discovery of her divine origin and her terrifying beauty While hardly than a girl, Helen married the remote Spartan king Menelaus and bore him a daughter By the age of twenty, the world s most beautiful woman was resigned to a passionless marriage until she encountered the handsome Trojan prince Paris And once the lovers flee to Troy, war, murder, and tragedy become inevitable In Helen of Troy, Margaret George has captured a timeless legend in a mesmerizing tale of a woman whose life was destined to create strife and destroy civilizations.

Helen of Troy : Margaret George

Margaret George166Margaret George

Title: Helen of Troy : Margaret George
Posted by:Margaret George
Published :2019-06-01T13:11:23+00:00

About “Margaret George”

Margaret George

Margaret George is a rolling stone who has lived in many places, beginning her traveling at the age of four when her father joined the U.S diplomatic service and was posted to a consulate in Taiwan The family traveled on a freighter named after Ulysses son Telemachus that took thirty days to reach Taiwan, where they spent two years Following that they lived in Tel Aviv right after the 1948 war, when it was relatively quiet , Bonn and Berlin during the spy and Cold War days before returning at the height of Elvis mania to Washington DC, where Margaret went to high school Margaret s first piece of published writing, at the age of thirteen, was a letter to TIME Magazine defending Elvis against his detractors Margaret has since been to Graceland But it was earlier in Israel that Margaret, an avid reader, began writing novels to amuse herself when she ran out of books to read Interestingly, the subject of these was not what lay around her in the Middle East, but the American west, which she had never set foot in Now that she lives in the American Midwest she writes about the Middle East Clearly writing in her case followed Emily Dickinson s observation There is no frigate like a book and she used it to go to faraway places Now she has added another dimension to that travel by specializing in visiting times remote from herself.Neither of these horse sagas got published, but the ten year old author received an encouraging note from an editor at Grosset Dunlap, telling her she had a budding talent but should work on her spelling.It was also in Israel that Margaret started keeping land tortoises as pets, an interest which she still follows today She had a great affinity for animals and nature and that led her to a double major at Tufts University in English literature and biology Following that she received an MA in ecology from Stanford University one of the earliest departments to offer such a concentration Today she is active in environmental and animal conservation groups.Combining her interests led her to a position as a science writer at the National Cancer Institute National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland for four years.Her marriage at the end of that time meant moving, first to St Louis, then to Uppsala, Sweden, and then to Madison, Wisconsin, where she and her husband Paul have lived for than twenty years now They have one grown daughter who lives in California and is in graduate school.Through all this Margaret continued to write, albeit slowly and always on only one project at a time She wrote what she refers to as her Ayn Rand adventure novel in college and her Sex and the City novel in Washington DC It was in St Louis that she suddenly got the idea of writing a psycho biography of Henry VIII She had never seen such a thing done but became convinced the king was a victim of bad PR and she should rescue his good name Her background in science meant that only after thoroughly researching the literature and scholarship on Henry VIII would she embark on the novel itself She sought the guidance of a Tudor historian at Washington University for a reading list, and proceeded from there.It was actually fourteen years between her initial idea and the publication of The Autobiography of Henry VIII The book made an impression for several reasons first, because no one had ever written a novel sympathetic to the king before second, because it covered his entire life from before birth until after his death, making it almost a thousand pages long, and third, because it was so fact filled.

906 thoughts on “Helen of Troy”

As an avid reader, it's not very often that you come across a book that immediately finds a spot on the top shelf of your bookcase. Well, Helen of Troy has earned that right, without a doubt. This book is sheer perfection in so many ways a simple review cannot express. The author did a beautiful job of telling the story of Helen of Sparta, later Helen of Troy from a perspective which seamlessly submerges you into the Trojan War. She weaved in all the right characters, events and emotions and wra [...]

I have been a fan of Greek mythology since my early childhood. However memories of it faded over last few years. "Helen of Troy" definitely revived my interest in the subject and in historical fiction in general. There were many things that I loved about the book. The story of Helen was comprehensive and meticulously researched. I know for sure George stayed very close to the sources and the book was historically correct (well, as much as a book about mythical characters can be historically corr [...]

I have previously very much enjoyed Margaret George's novels, most specifically her work on Henry VIII, Mary, Queen of Scots and Cleopatra. But as George continues to write about famous "historical" figures the last two she has chosen live more in myth rather than actual history (Mary Magdalene and now Helen of Troy). I couldn't feel sorry for Helen, and found it sort of cheap that the "Gods" interfered with Helen's emotions in order to make her fall in love with Paris. Previously the character' [...]

This is one of those books I’ve been meaning to read, but didn’t get to until now, published in 2006. Here’s a somewhat meandering review, more a collection of my reactions/thoughts than a formal review. Margaret George writes historical fiction set in a number of periods from Cleopatra to Elizabeth I. I worried from a distance that someone who jumped around like that might be skimpy on the research and historical accuracy. Then I heard her speak at the Tucson Festival of Books, and I real [...]

I love Greek mythology and think the fall of Troy is easily one of the most powerful myths around. Prior to reading this I would never have believed that anyone could tell it in such a way as to make it utterly boring, but sadly Margaret George has proved me wrong.Telling the story of Helen of Troy, the face that started it all, it's clear that Ms George put in rather a lot of research. It's just a shame that, while remembering to add in details like what sort of cups people might have drunk fro [...]

*I don't know too much about the myth of Troy, just some stuff so bear with me*A wonderful novel of Helen and the Trojan War everything was brought to life beautifully, I felt like I was walking the streets of Sparta and Troy. Miss George's writing was amazing, very rich and beautifully detailed. The pages fly by very quickly, even though this isn't a fast read. Helen and Paris' falling in love happened a bit quickly for my taste and I had trouble believing their love for most of the book till t [...]

I'm terrible at writing out reviews - and actually posting them, but I just can't help myself with this one. This book is one of my absolute favorites, and so underappreciated.Unlike many Helen of Troy books, George starts from the very beginning and goes all the way to the very end. And while this may seem like a long, tedious process for the reader, George’s writing is so flipping fantastic that I STILL want more. George is also the first author that makes the whole “elopment” storyline [...]

It was a good book, but I found Helen's character to be petulant and frankly, annoying. Perhaps this is my own pet peeve, but I found Helen's attempts to externalize the blame and repercussions of her own actions on the gods to be really tiresome- especially after 600 pages. However, the characters were well developed, the splotseemed to stick to the historical data, and the storyline moved along at a quick pace. I enjoyed reading the novel, but I think I may have liked it more if Helen had been [...]

One of the most boring, badly written, snooze-inducing novels that I have ever waded through. Here, Margaret George takes on the Iliad and reduces it into cheap trash. Helen is a sluttish, boring, one note, and no one else really rises up to the material, with the possible exception of Odysseus. Be smart, stick with the original, preferably Robert Fagle's recent translations. Not worth the time or money. For the longer review, please go here:epinions/review/Book_H

As a lover of Greek mythology, my interests were piqued by the title alone. And as someone who has always thought of Paris as a petulant child and Helen a victim of kidnapping and rape, I was interested to read George's slant on the events that transpired between the Trojan Prince and the Spartan Queen. I was dazzled. Helen's air headed tendencies aside, I found myself sympathizing with her more than once. She is most certainly a flawed character, but I found her humanity and tenacious spirit co [...]

Homer gaves us the story of the end of the Trojan War and the great tale of what happened to the Odyssey when it lost its way. There are numerous tales of the greatest warriors that fought the war and endless stories of the watching gods. Margaret George tells a different story. It is the story of Helen and how she went from being Helen, Queen of Sparta to Helen of Troy. And the story is told through her eyes. From her childhood when she strained against her restraints and resented the fact that [...]

Last year, a friend recommended the book Gone with the Wind. I balked at the idea, at the mere size of it. But I read it, because I trust her book choices with every fiber of my being. And I loved it. Never had I read a single book that was as epic, as sweeping, as Gone with the Wind. Until now. My blogger friend Ashley gave it a phenomenal review, and it turns out that Helen of Troy had been sitting in my bookcase all this time. I had bought it at a used bookstore about two years ago. WEIRD! Ba [...]

Greek mythology, or mythology, in general, is and will always be one of my great loves. (I say this at the risk of sounding completely demented) The story of Helen and the fall of Troy was never my most favourite myth but recently, I started to gravitate towards it and am very fascinated with many of the secondary characters involved. I was pleased to read that George had included them with sufficient backstory: Cassandra, Clytemnestra, Aphrodite, Athena, Electra, and Orestes. What was really en [...]

Okay, Margaret George is an extremely "wordy" author. She likes adjectives and she likes to use them a lot. I am a simple woman, if the day is hot then I don't want to hear about how the sweat drops slide down your face.Also, I think she got bored in the last 100 pages because Helen just kind of summarizes things and then the book is over.Also, I hate Helen of Troy. If I was to write a fiction book about a fiction woman I would make Helen of Troy a power house. I don't CARE that Homer didn't wri [...]

This book is a beautiful example of historical FICTION. I boldly capitalize the word ‘fiction’ because the original story of Troy and its long siege per se is a fictitious yarn, loosely based on events whose historicity has yet to be fully proven. The famous narrative ‘Iliad’ has become the intrinsic part of human cultural heritage and in its turn has given birth to a number of artistic interpretations. Most of the spin-offs (novels, paintings, poems, movies, plays) mainly tell the story [...]

In Helen of Troy, George loses none of her deft story-telling touch. Reading this book, or indeed any book by George, one can feel almost as something palpable that this story is truly woven – a rich tale of many complex strands woven expertly together by George’s pen. What a joy! There’s something gloriously gluttonous about curling up with a book like that and a mug of hot chocolate of a cold winter’s evening and losing yourself for hours. Mind you, I read Helen of Troy whilst ensconce [...]

Although this latest historical fiction novel by Margaret George is not quite up to her first two efforts, “The Autobiography of Henry VIII” and “The Memoirs of Cleopatra,” she still does a very good job of making the mythical figure of Helen of Troy into a real, flesh-and-blood woman of her time that we can identify with.Unlike other fictional re-tellings of Helen’s story which portray her as selfish and conceited or a vapid non-entity, George does her best to make Helen a sympathetic [...]

I hoped that this would be an intriguing story that adds new depth to the characters and machinations of the Trojan War; that it would take what we already knew and make it interesting, give it depth and conflict and emotion so that it was still interesting. But I didn't feel that Margaret George did that at all. Since Helen of Troy is written from the first person point of view of Helen, she needed to be a compelling woman of intelligence and strength and force of will caught in the tides of lo [...]

I finally conquered Troy!Yesterday, before I read the last page of the book and the afterwords by the author, I was ready to rant and rave about how selfish and vapid Helen was and how ridiculous everyone seemed with their claims of seeing the future and being visited by gods every other dayen I learned that it's a good possibility that she never existed and is simply a myth. How can I get self-righteous with a myth?But seriously, I couldn't feel any sympathy for Helen and Paris. They should hav [...]

I have two major requirements for historical fiction:1. I have to be able to easily suspend disbelief.2. It needs to spark some kind of an interest for me to do some outside research on the time period.Check and check.This book started off slow, but towards the ending (especially the description of the war) I felt like I was flying through the 600+ pages of this book. While I thought the author's choice to have Helen remote view the battle scenes was somewhat cheesy, the actual descriptions were [...]

This is my second Margaret George book and I usually don't like my second read from author as much as I like the first book I read by them. I have to say that I loved this book as much if not more as my first George book, Cleopatra. This was very well done and makes memories of high school headaches from reading the Iliad and the Odyssey not so horrible. George does a great job taking the story of the fall of Troy and the events leading up to it and making them enjoyable to read. I love they way [...]

In Helen of Troy we witness the personal life of Helen of Sparta. Starting from her life as a child then being married to Menelaus. She is content with her life as it is in Sparta with Menelaus and her daughter, Hermione, but the reader can tell that she feels something is missing in her life. Her father soon passes down his role of king to Menelaus making Helen the Queen of Sparta. But Helen soon becomes discontent because what she feels with Menelaus (in their bed chamber) is not what she wish [...]

What an entertaining version of the story of the Trojan War! This book is written in first person and Helen is narrating the story of her life. She is a very caring, sympathetic and innocent character in this book because we are hearing the story from her side. The writing is so fantastic you are immediately pulled in and can’t wait to read more to see what happens (even though you know the end of the story).Helen is raised as a very sheltered young girl and is forbidden to use a mirror lest s [...]

"Was this face that launched a thousand ships?" (Dr. Faustus, Christopher Marlowe). Ah, the enigma of Helen of Troy. The men of ancient times are as captivated by Helen as we are today. Helen of Troy has been portrayed in many different lights and from many different angles. George chooses to paint a picture of an overly protected, naiive woman who's fate was simply a toy to Aphrodite.I struggeld with what to rate it. I really enjoyed The Memoirs of Cleopatra, as it gripped me from page one. I d [...]

It's not like we don't know what's going to happen: Menelaus, Paris, Troy, the horse. It's in the how and the why that Margaret George spins an engrossing tale. What is it like to have "the face that launched a thousand ships"? To be perhaps the most famous adultress in history? To be a "survivor" (as Hector calls Helen) in the midst of terrible destruction? Homer leaves much about Helen to be read between the lines, and Margaret George takes up the challenge. She imagines a Helen who is compete [...]

Meticulously researched. Margaret George got everything right, except for more insight into Helen's sheltered childhood. She completely bypasses the fact that when Helen was 10 years old, she was kidnapped.Theseus and Pirithous wanted to marry divine wives, and pledged to abduct two daughters of Zeus. Pirithous wanted Persephone, regardless that she was already married to her husband Hades. Thesus wanted to marry Helen, the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" - even if that beauty was still a ch [...]

I read this book what seems like a decade ago, yet I remember it as if I read it a few days ago. The all too beautiful Helen from The Iliad has her story - the story of a girl who couldn't have it all despite people thinking the very opposite of that. Margaret George makes Helen voice out her life and this is done with a brilliant skill in that the maturity of the language and her thoughts subtly change with her growth. An unputdownable book with suitable celerity, rich characterization and poig [...]